'Means More Than Just a Trophy': Djokovic Captures 102nd Career Title as De Minaur Retires in Beijing Final

Novak Djokovic will not remember his 102nd career title for a thunderous final winner or a roaring crowd. He will remember a handshake at the net, a groan rippling through the stands in Beijing, and the strange, hollow feeling of being handed a trophy because his opponent's body had given out. Alex de Minaur's retirement in the China Open final — with the 27-year-old Australian trailing 7-6 (7-3) 0-1 — sealed the seventh Beijing crown of Djokovic's career and moved him to within one title of Roger Federer on the all-time men's list.

A final that ended at the net, not with a winner's shot

For 68 minutes, the final was everything a Beijing showpiece should be. De Minaur, 12 years Djokovic's junior and the world number nine, matched the 39-year-old from the baseline, and even carved out a break point in the fifth game that Djokovic erased with a full-stretch backhand down the line. The Australian's error count climbed in the tie-break, though, and Djokovic seized the opening set 7-6 (7-3).

What followed revealed the toll on both men. Each took a medical timeout at the changeover: Djokovic received a massage on his abdomen and strapping to his shoulder, while de Minaur left the court and returned with his left thigh heavily bandaged — Mexican press reports noted the white wrap on the Australian's thigh. Flashscore's match report confirmed the Australian was struggling with a groin injury. De Minaur gritted his teeth through the opening game of the second set — he even won it with a clean forehand — but then crossed the net to shake Djokovic's hand and call time on the match, unable to continue.

"I don't feel great," de Minaur told the crowd at the trophy presentation. "I want to say sorry to all the amazing fans that came to watch. I didn't want to finish like this." His coach, the former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt, watched on stony-faced from the stands. Djokovic, in turn, was visibly moved: "I'm really sorry for the way you had to finish today, and I really hope that you can recover quickly," he told his opponent.

!Alex de Minaur at the 2023 French Open Alex de Minaur, forced to retire in the Beijing final with a groin injury. Photo: Hameltion, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

A week of walking wounded in Beijing

The final was only the latest chapter in a tournament that seemed to be played as much in the treatment room as on the court. Both semi-finals on Monday ended prematurely: de Minaur reached the final after Hubert Hurkacz retired from their semi-final with an injury, while Djokovic advanced when Daniil Medvedev was disqualified for striking a spectator with a ball.

Djokovic himself has not been a picture of health this season. He has been troubled by an undisclosed condition that restricted him to just eight tournaments in 2026, and he needed treatment during the Beijing final itself, as The Times reported. "This year has been quite challenging for me, lots of ups and downs, physical and health issues," he admitted. "So I just tried to find a good feeling on the court, and obviously I know that when I'm striking the ball well, I can still compete at the highest level."

The Serbian also beat world number two Alexander Zverev en route to the final, a reminder that when the body holds up, the game still does too. It was his first title since November 2025 — an eternity by his standards — and he was honest about how the anticlimax felt: "It's a bit of a strange feeling. I want to celebrate because I think I played one of my best weeks in the last couple of years. At the same time, he retired from the match at the beginning of the second set, so it doesn't feel respectful to jump around and be joyful, but I'm very proud of this achievement."

Thirty-four and counting: Beijing's unbeatable record

Numbers have always been Djokovic's native language, and Beijing has become one of his most fluent dialects. He has now won 34 consecutive matches at the China Open — an unbeaten record at the tournament that stretches back through a first spell of dominance — and seven trophies in the Chinese capital, his first since 2015. He was playing the event for the first time in 11 years.

Remarkably, his last two victories in Beijing came without him winning a match point: the semi-final ended on a default, the final on a retirement. Yet the record books do not annotate such details, and the milestone that matters is the 21st consecutive calendar year in which Djokovic has won at least one singles title — a streak of relentless relevance unmatched in the modern game.

One fewer than Federer, seven short of Connors

The all-time ledger now reads: Jimmy Connors 109, Roger Federer 103, Novak Djokovic 102. The Serbian has pulled to within a single title of his great Swiss rival, and the chase for Connors' long-standing record — once thought unreachable — is alive in a way nobody would have predicted a few years ago.

The achievement also makes Djokovic the oldest man to lift a top-level tournament in nearly 50 years, a distinction previously held by 43-year-old Ken Rosewall. In a season when he has openly questioned his future, he reiterated this week that he intends to keep playing until at least the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The victory will also return him to the world's top 10, an extraordinary line to write about a 39-year-old whose 2026 had been defined by hospitals more than headlines.

Alcaraz answers in Tokyo as Sinner shuts down his season

Hours earlier, the generational picture had sharpened in Tokyo, where defending champion Carlos Alcaraz retained the Japan Open with a 7-6(4) 6-4 win over Czech Jiri Lehecka. It was the 23-year-old's third title of the year — after the Australian Open and the Qatar Open — and a significant one: he had been sidelined for nearly five months with a wrist injury, returning at the US Open in late August, where he reached the quarter-finals.

Alcaraz dropped serve in the opening game at Tokyo's Ariake Coliseum before recovering, sealing the first set with a sublime drop shot in the tie-break and breaking midway through the second. He became the first man to win back-to-back Japan Open titles since Pete Sampras in 1993-94, and the win was the 27th of his career — a weekend of career-defining moments across sport, from Tokyo to the news that Elfyn Evans became Britain's first world rally champion in 25 years. "I'm really happy to be able to lift a trophy again," he said. "It's been a while and obviously it's extra special after my injury and my comeback."

The other headline of the day belonged to world number one Jannik Sinner, who announced he was ending his season early because of an ongoing knee injury. With the top of the men's game in flux, the wider tennis landscape keeps shifting — but in Beijing, one constant remains: Novak Djokovic, limping, wincing, and still winning.

What this title means at 39

Strip away the scoreline and this was a week about longevity — the stubborn refusal of a body to cooperate and the even more stubborn refusal of its owner to stop. Few athletes in any sport manage this kind of persistence at 39 — not even Lionel Messi, who has just retired from Argentina duty. Djokovic has rationed his schedule to protect himself, picked his events, and still found a way to stand alone with a trophy in a city where he has never lost on the ATP Tour, as the BBC reported. Sport's most redoubtable fire has not gone out; it is merely burning on fewer matches a year. Beijing 2026 will not be remembered as a classic final, but as the title that meant more than just a trophy — proof, in the champion's own words, that he can still compete at the very highest level when the good feeling returns.